Sports

Rewind 2023: For good or bad, Indian football for a change stayed in headlines

The year 2023 was about sustained visibility for Indian football. For good or bad, the Indian football stayed in headlines with Sunil Chhetri's senior men's national team taking the lead.

Ujwal Singh December 20, 2023 19:49:35 IST

In 2023, Indian men's football team reached sub-100 FIFA rankings for first time in five years. AIFF image

Football is the most loved and followed sport in the world but it has learned to live like a poor cousin to cricket in India. It has to wait for a FIFA World Cup to rise and shine, but in that context, Indian football never had it better than what 2023 has been for it as far as sustained visibility is concerned.

For those interested in affairs beyond European football, the game hogged the headlines on the front pages of the newspapers, news websites, and social media and dominated the consciousness of the public in a bigger way than before. However, being true to its nature, it was at times for on-field achievements and others for off-field controversies.

It started in March as international football for the first time made its way to its spiritual home Manipur. The North East state is small in size but produces the most number of professional footballers and there at the Khuman Lampak Stadium in Imphal, India defeated a higher-ranked Kyrgyz Republic in front of a capacity crowd of 30,000 fans to clinch the Tri-Nation Trophy.

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Then came the Intercontinental Cup win in Bhubaneswar in June where Nikhil Poojary’s behind-the-back nutmeg in the lead-up to a goal in the final went viral.

Arguably the most memorable moment, however, came in Bengaluru in July. India were once again the SAFF Championship winner but this time the victory came after back-to-back victories against two West Asian countries — Lebanon and Kuwait. This was the first time India had outplayed West Asian countries in successive games.

The football on display was even better than the results. Known for long-ball and physical football, India were all about ball possession, quick counter-attacks and an attacking mindset. The victory was so sweet and beautiful that it dominated the newspapers and television and the crowd at the stadium was drenched in national spirit.

India soon returned to sub-100 FIFA rankings for the first time in five years.

Next came the defeat to Iraq, Lebanon and Malaysia away from home and then to Qatar which ended the 15-game unbeaten streak on home turf, but the football on display stayed positive and daring — a massive development that is sure to give long-term gains.

Longball to Igorball: How Stimac transformed Indian football team’s playstyle

Also before the Qatar game came the victory in Kuwait in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers — the first away win in 22 years which has given India a real chance to reach the third round of qualifiers for the first time.

Women’s football remains anonymous

Indian senior women’s team played 12 matches in 2023, however, and there were seven defeats in those outings with just two wins. While there is little to complain about the results given the amateurish structure of women’s football in the country, AIFF’s decision to bring in a salary cap for Indian Women’s League (IWL) teams to have at least 10 Indian players on an annual contract worth a minimum of Rs 3.2 lakh and later its withdrawal after protests from clubs only went on to underline the sad state of affairs.

The 2023-24 season of IWL, meanwhile, is underway without any promotion in media and TV broadcast. It, however, is being played in the home-and-away format for the first time.

Is it a sign of things to come or a case of a stopped clock being right twice a day? We will have to wait for time to tell.

Controversies and Indian football go hand in hand

The remarkable development in the playing style and the uptick in positive results can’t overshadow the controversies though. After all in Indian football, there’s no guarantee of sustained good results but controversies are.

The historic SAFF Championship win and the new-found love for football in India drove AIFF to convince the Sports Ministry to allow football teams to travel to China for the 2023 Asian games. All of this, however, was done without taking the Indian Super League (ISL) clubs in confidence and the result was a direct clash between the federation and domestic teams.

The first-choice players were not released for a tournament being held outside the designated FIFA window. After negotiations, a few were released followed by some more. The U-23 side eventually reached Hangzhou just a few hours before their first game and lost 5-1 to the hosts.

Despite this, India reached the Round of 16 for the first time since 2010 before losing to Saudi Arabia.

There was also the astrologer controversy that involved men’s team coach Igor Stimac. Reports claimed that the Croatian consulted an astrologer to select his teams. It ended with Stimac labelling the allegations a “disgrace”.

Mumbai City FC dominate ISL 

On the domestic front, 2023 largely belonged to Mumbai City FC. They didn’t win the ISL title. It was ATK Mohun Bagan who have now become Mohun Bagan Super Giant after sustained protest from the fans, but Mumbai under their former coach Des Buckingham gave a season to remember in 2022-23 as they won the League Shield.

Some of the records they made included winning 11 games on a trot, staying unbeaten for 18 matches, collecting 46 points and scoring 54 goals — all unprecedented in the history of ISL.

That’s about it as far as the major things are concerned. It’s impossible to encapsulate everything that happened in a year in a few words but as we get ready to bid goodbye to 2023, regardless of all the controversies, there has been positive development with the men’s team in terms of results and coverage, and as it is so often said in sports, more of the same is what fans would be wanting in 2024.